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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

New Media: Not Just for College Kids Anymore.

Every day people are discovering more ways to use new media - and the possibilities are endless! Recently, many government agencies began using social media to communicate with the masses and employees. According to usa.gov, "The Columbus, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce worked with students at Ohio State University to use Facebook to announce the opening event of a new restaurant, leading to...the biggest opening day ever for the restaurant chain." Social media sites are becoming a hot ticket for company promos (in fact, before going to dinner a couple weeks ago, I downloaded a coupon from twitter posted by a restaurant). Do a twitter search for "coupon" and see what comes up.

The public is becoming more aware of their favorite brands and people on social networking sites and many organizations are reporting success stories in this area. Anderson County, SC, has decided to take informing the public one step further. The county is looking to increase public safety measures using new media. According to independentmail.com, "The system would use Facebook, Twitter, text messages and other forms of new media to get the word out." Residents would be able to sign up to receive new media alerts whenever something of importance happens. The plan is to "add new media methods and coordinate all of the platforms so that one message is sent out through cell phones, radio, television, social Web sites and more."

We live in an age where convenience is key. With new gadgets abounding, we can have information at our fingertips any time. It's great that folks are taking the initiative to use these resources to help maintain awareness and I look forward to seeing more of this in the future.